Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center: a double boost for Homer; this marine center, still under construction, is expected to draw 30,000 to 40,000 visitors each year.

• Author: Bernard, Chris

A new marine center in Homer is poised to be a twofold boon to the seaside town's economy.

The first wave already has hit, with an influx of $15 million in construction funds spread mostly among local workers. The second will begin next fall when the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, a major attraction expected to draw 30,000 to 40,000 visitors each year, is completed.

Construction on the center began last May.

The project has been in the planning stages since 1988, said John Harris, chief of construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the primary budgets and will hold the title for the building.

All told, the Alaska Islands and Ocean Center will cost about $18 million. Though the center is a joint project of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, funding was appropriated with state partnerships through federal agencies, including the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and Fish and Wildlife.

"Our partnership with the refuge emerged because it was a logical thing," said Glenn Seaman, manager of the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. "It made a lot of sense for these two groups, which needed space for research and other things, to come together."

The two agencies and the town of Homer hope the center will rival Seward's Alaska SeaLife Center and Kenai's Challenger Learning Center of Alaska as a hub for tourism, and serve as a new Homer facility for a variety of other groups.

Among its features will be an auditorium, classrooms, and educational and research laboratories. It will also serve as office space for the two partnering agencies.

OUTDOORS, INDOORS

The sprawling Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge stretches from Sitka in the south to Barrow in the north, straying as far west as the island of Attu in the Aleutians. Despite its size, the refuge covers primarily the rocks, spires, islands and a few odd capes of coastal Alaska, said Greg Siekaniec, refuge manager.

"The size of it makes it difficult for most people to actually get to the refuge," he said.

With the easily accessible visitor center, Siekaniec hopes to bring the refuge to the people. "This will serve the entire refuge, and from a visitor's perspective, this is going to be a wonderful experience. It's pretty amazing what's going to be featured in the interpretive area."

The centerpiece of that 6,000-squarefoot interpretive area will be the...